This post is NOT a look at the greatest linebacker groups ever. Instead, this post seeks to identify teams that had a bunch of great linebackers playing together while those players were in their primes.

The first thing we need to do is rate the linebackers. I used PFR’s Approximate Value system, which assigns a value to measure the approximate contribution of each player in each season since 1950. I then analyzed each player’s single-season AV score to come up with a base rating for each linebacker.1 It’s always difficult figuring out how to grade a player’s career, as you need to balance career length with peak production. I decided to average the best five years (they need not be consecutive) for every linebacker since 1950 to come up with a “peak AV rating” for each linebacker. Then I adjusted each linebacker’s peak AV rating for each season of his career depending solely on his age. That age adjusted score is the rating I’m giving each linebacker for each season of play, not his actual AV grade.2
How do you adjust for age? I selected the top 100 linebackers in NFL history (according to peak AV) and measured what percentage of their peak AV they produced at each age. After smoothing out the numbers a bit, you get the following age adjustments. For example, a linebacker peaks at age 27, and produces at 81% of his peak level at age 24.

Age

Weight

21

4%

22

33%

23

61%

24

81%

25

91%

26

99%

27

100%

28

99%

29

97%

30

84%

31

76%

32

66%

33

53%

34

37%

35

23%

36

13%

37

9%

38

2%

39

1%

40

1%

Lewis has the highest five-year peak of any linebacker with a peak AV of 20.2. Urlacher isn’t far behind at 17.6. Here is how many “estimated” points of AV they are assigned in each year of their career in this system:

Age

Wt

Lewis

Urlacher

21

4%

0.8

0.7

22

33%

6.7

5.8

23

61%

12.3

10.7

24

81%

16.4

14.3

25

91%

18.4

16

26

99%

20

17.4

27

100%

20.2

17.6

28

99%

20

17.4

29

97%

19.6

17.1

30

84%

17

14.8

31

76%

15.4

13.4

32

66%

13.3

11.6

33

53%

10.7

9.3

34

37%

7.5

6.5

35

23%

4.6

4

36

13%

2.6

2.3

37

9%

1.8

1.6

38

2%

0.4

0.4

39

1%

0.2

0.2

40

1%

0.2

0.2

Obviously these numbers are nothing more than rough estimates. But overall, I think they work just fine for these purposes. Now that we have the age-adjusted peak AV score for each linebacker, we can create a list of the best linebacker groups playing together by simply averaging the age-adjusted peak AV scores for the starting linebackers on each team.

The table below shows the 200 highest rated sets of 4-3 linebackers since 1960. It is sorted simply by the average of the three age-adjusted peak AV scores of each of the starting linebackers. The top combination comes from the 2001 Ravens. Baltimore’s best linebacker was Lewis, who was 26 and has an “estimated AV” that year of 20.0. The second best linebacker was Peter Boulware, who was 27 and receives an age-adjusted AV of 10.4. Jamie Sharper, also 27, was the third best linebacker, and gets an “estimated AV” of 9.6.

One note: I decided not to re-list linebacker trios that would otherwise appear multiple times on the list. Any time a linebacker trio appeared more often than once, I only listed the best one (which would, of course, be based solely on the ages of the three players) in the table below. So that’s why the 2000 Ravens aren’t on there, because the 2001 version was a year older (and presumably closer to their peak). A similar fate sacked the ’85 Bears, replaced by the more physically mature ’86 version.

The 1962 Packers had one of the greatest defenses of all time, and their slightly younger predecessor comes in at #2. Jack Ham and Jack Lambert are joined by a third linebacker at the 3rd, 9th, 10th, and 22nd spots on the list. In 1975, Ham, Lambert and Andy Russell all made the Pro Bowl, although that trio rates higher in ’76 as Lambert moved closer to his estimated peak.

Of course, the top of the list is reserved for the Dome Patrol, arguably the best quartet of linebackers in NFL history. In 1992, all four starters made the Pro Bowl while the offense set a modern record for slowest tempo. Mostly, this list is dominated by Steelers teams from the last two decades. The Orange Crush Broncos crack the top five, with Randy Gradishar, Tom Jackson, Bob Swenson and Joe Rizzo — the same group that took the team to the Super Bowl in 1977 — peaking two years later. The ’76 Raiders that went 13-1 and won the Super Bowl also crack the top ten, and a couple of Dr. Doom groups make the list. The ’91 Bills defense may have been anchored by Bruce Smith, but the linebackers behind him also show up relatively high on the list.

What sticks out to you? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

One other note: I applied an AFL qualifier for players in the earlier days of the AFL. [↩]

If you used the actual AV score, you would essentially be compiling a list of the best defenses of all time and little more. [↩]

If I’ve got your method correct, SF’s average was 9.4 in 2012, which would be in the top 25 of 3-4 LB groups. With Smith (signed through 2014) and Bowman (through 2018) both under 25, Brooks (through 2017) getting dinged for not starting his first 4 years, and Willis (through 2017) still having a few more peak years left, I think this group is an odds-on favorite to crack the 3-4 top 10 in the next couple of seasons.

Bob

Speaking of 49ers’ LBs, 2012 was the first year (that I can find) in which three or more LBs from the same team were named first team AP All-Pro: Bowman, Willis, and Aldon Smith.

Chase Stuart

Not quite. I did include 2012 data (the Steelers made it) but younger players are at a serious disadvantage.

For Bowman, he has played 3 years and has a total of 35 points of AV. That gets divided by 5 so he is given a peak AV of 7.

For Aldon Smith — whom admittedly AV does not work well since he was not a “starter” in 2011 — he has only 18 points of AV in 2 years. So he is given a peak AV of 2.6.

No doubt, though, that in a few years, that crew could wind up in the top five of this list.

http://www.footballoutsiders.com Danny Tuccitto

Ah, OK. Yeah. I was just averaging Smith’s 2 years and Bowman’s 3 years, not incorporating zeroes for the other 3 and 2 years, respectively. So looks like, assuming SF extends Smith (which they do almost 100% for their young talent), and nothing catastrophic happens injury-wise, we’re looking at 2015 or 2016 as the year they leap up near the top of this list.

Thanks for the clarification.

Danish

THAT Rick Dennison was a linebacker? Isn’t it strange for a defensive player to become an offensive coordinator, or does his happen more often than I think?

This could be a fun thing to investigate…

Chase Stuart

Agreed. That would be a good idea to investigate.

Chase Stuart

Ray Rhodes came into the NFL as a wide receiver. He’s probably the most famous guy on the other side.

bradley

As a long time Bronco fan, I can offer the following: Dennison was an extremely intelligent player who later earned a master’s degree in engineering, I believe. I think he ended up coaching linebackers for the Broncos, but then became the special teams coach. When Alex Gibbs needed to take some time off from coaching the Broncos O line, with it’s zone blocking scheme, Dennison took over that job, with Gibbs flying in now and then to assist. Eventually Dennisontook over as O coordinator when Kubiak left for Houston (I think Dennison was the O coordinator for awhile, or maybe he first became an O coordinator when Kubiak hired him in Houston.)

Shattenjager

Dennison joined the Broncos as an Offensive Assistant (Apparently, his title was not any more specific than that.) in 1995, moved to special teams 1997-2000, then moved to the offensive line through 2005, then got promoted to offensive coordinator with Kubiak heading off to Houston. He remained the offensive coordinator until he left for Houston.

Shattenjager

[Insert joke here about how intelligent a CSU grad can be here. :)]

I wrote that before, but inside greater than and less than signs, which I now realize would have made it look like HTML. Hopefully it just disappeared and didn’t actually do something strange (sorry if it did, Chase).

Shattenjager

He was a tight end in college before moving to linebacker in the NFL, so he was a bit of an odd case already, but it’s still pretty rare, I believe.

Richie

I guess it’s probably more common before about 1960, when the players were playing both sides and I don’t think coordinators were always used.

But Tom Landry was mostly a defensive player and then a defensive coordinator. Didn’t he also run the Cowboys offense while he was head coach, particularly in the early days?

And then wasn’t Bill Belichick the offensive coordinator (and head coach) in 2009-2010 after being the DC for Parcells for many years? Heck, PFR doesn’t list a coordinator for either side in 2010. Was he actually coordinating both?

Shattenjager

The Patriots technically did not have an offensive coordinator in ’05, ’09, and ’10 or a defensive coordinator in ’10 and ’11. In ’05, Belichick described the offensive play calling as being shared amongst himself, QB coach Josh McDaniels (who would become offensive coordinator the next year), and Tom Brady. In ’09 and ’10, I would guess that there was a similar arrangement with QB coach Bill O’Brien (who would become offensive coordinator in ’11), but it’s purely a guess based on the earlier situation and O’Brien’s promotion in ’11. In ’10, the story that was floating around was that Belichick did not want to choose between DL coach Pepper Johnson and LB coach Matt Patricia to take the DC job when Dean Pees left, preferring to have them share the responsibility with him. Patricia did take the job in 2012 while Johnson moved to LB coach.

It’s not easy to answer whether Belichick has been the offensive and/or defensive coordinator of the Patriots in those years, really.

Just one note on those great Saints’ LBs: They really peaked a little later when Swilling peaked. Rickey Jackson and Sam Mills both were unusually productive in their 30s. Jackson just had a long prime and Mills peaked in his 30s (98 of his 126 career points of AV come from age 30 on) after being undrafted. Mills’ NFL career only started at age 27 (age 24-26 in USFL).

In ’91, Swilling had 17 sacks and AV of 23. Jackson had 11.5 sacks and AV of 12. Mills had 102 tackles and AV of 18. Wow.

Chase Stuart

Yeah, ’92 was the year they all made the Pro Bowl. I always wanted to check if their later peaks was tied to having better teammates around them then than a few years earlier, but never got around to it.